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Thomas Garrett
Thomas Garrett lived in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania but then moved to Wilmington, Delaware later on in his life. Garrett became an abolitionist when one of his family's servants was forced into slavery. Garrett was known as Delaware's greatest humanitarian. He was a white Quaker, station master that was credited for helping more than 2,700 slaves to freedom. His man was a station master for 40 years. During that time he was jailed and fined for being a part of the Underground Railroad. -
Thomas Garrett (cont.)
When Thomas Garrett died, he wanted to be carried to his grave by African Americans. January 25 is known as Thomas Garrett, Jr Day in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania. -
Compromise of 1820
Also known as the Missouri Compromise, this two part compromise decided whether Missouri would be a slave state or not. Henry Clay came up with a deal to make both the north and the south happy. Missouri gained admission into the Union as a slave state. And also at the same time, Maine was welcomed into the Union as a free state. This compromise was important because if Maine was not admitted into the Union, the south would have had two more representatives than the north. -
Nat Turner's Rebellion
Nat Turner and about 70 other slaves killed almost 60 plantation owners and their families. This rebellion took place in Virginia, in 1831. Thomas Grey, a lawyer, interviewed Turner before he was hung. He wrote a book saying that Turner thought his master was nice and there was no reason for killing him other than "...to carry terror and devastation..." No one knows if this is actually true though. After this event took place, the plantation owners became scared of what the slaves would do. -
Compromise of 1850 (cont.)
The five parts are:
1.) California was allowed to become a Free state.
2.) California could decide what it did with the lands that were won from the Mexican War.
3.) Slave trade was outlawed in Washington, D.C.
4.) The border of Texas was settled and Texas had to give up the land it was fighting over. By doing this, Texas got ten million dollars.
5.) The Fugitive Slave Law was put into act. which meant all of the people living in the country had to turn in runaway slaves. -
Compromise of 1850
Henry Clay, The Great Compromiser, was put into a position again on January 29, 1850 to get the country to stay united. At this time, Clay was seventy-three years old. He was sick and weak but still wanted to make the country together. He finally came up with a five part compromise. -
Bleeding Kansas
After the Kansas-Nebraska Act, Kansas was turned into a violent territory. The territory was able to choose whether it was free or not. This forced the pro-slavery and anti-slavery settlers into violence because neither wanted the other to win. Because there was so much violence, there were many deaths making Kansas earn the nickname "Bleeding Kansas." -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
The Kansas-Nebraska Act allowed people in the territories of Kansas and Nebraska to choose for themselves whether to have or not have slavery in their borders. This act repealed the Missouri Compromise which denied slavery north of the 36'30' line. Allowing people to choose about slavery angered many norhterners. After an election fraud, violence broke out giving Kansas the nickname "Bleeding Kansas." Violence led by John Brown. President Pierce, pro-slavery, tried to stop the fighting. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act (cont.)
After another election fraud, Kansas was not allowed to join the Union. They couldn't join the Union because Congress did not recognize the pro-slavery settlers' constitution. After six years though, there were more anti-slavery settlers than pro-slavery settlers and the constitution they made allowed themselves into the Union as a Free state. -
Underground Railroad
I picked this date because the Underground Railroad was used the most between 1850 and 1860. The Underground Railroad was a system of people and places helping slaves run away to freedom. In 1850, the Fugitive Slave Law was inacted and this meant that any runaway slave had to be returned to the South whether they were in the North or not. After this law was put into work, many of the runaways fled to Canada where they could be safe. There were many people helping with the Railroad such as Harrie -
Underground Railroad (cont.)
There were many people helping with the Railroad such as Harriet Tubman, Thomas Garrett, and Levi Coffin. These people helped thousands of slaves to freedom even though they put themselves in danger. -
Dred Scott v. Sanford
Dred Scott, an enslaved man that lived in Missouri, filed suit against his owner because he had once traveled north which made him believe he was free. Scott lost the case 7 to 2 votes. Chief Justice Taney said African Americans had no rights and because Scott was "property" he couldn't sue anyone. After the Dred Scott v. Sanford case, the government had no power over the spread of slavery. This case void the Missouri Compromise and made Congress have to protect the rights of slave owners. -
Election of 1860
During this election, the Northern and Southern Democratic party were split apart because of their great differences. The delegates met in Charleston, South Carolina but could not choose a candidate for presidency. These were the following candidates:
Abraham Lincoln- Republican
Stephen Douglas- Democrat
John Breckinridge- Democrat
John Bell- Constitutional Union -
Election of 1860 (cont.)
There were two elections in November of 1860. One was between Bell and Breckinridge in the South and the Northern election was between Lincoln and Douglas. As a whole nation, Lincoln won 180 out of 303 votes. Lincoln won the presidency by having 40 percent of the votes. Douglas had 29 percent, Breckinridge had 18 percent, and Bell had 13 percent. -
Attack on Fort Sumter
Beauragard ordered his troops to fire on Fort Sumter. General Anderson, Beauragard's mentor, who is the man in charge at Fort Sumter. Fort Sumter was located in the middle of Charlestown Harbor. It was a Union fort surrounded by Confederate forts and gun batteries. This attack lasted 34 hours and the only injury was a Confederate horse. The day after this attack was made, the Civil War was inaugurated.
